Margarita Mixer

To end the month of June, Vic hosted an office party at his trailer tonight. It was a potluck margarita mixer for office members+1 so I of course brought Kendall along! Since I had the day off yesterday, I made the fruit salad to bring (watermelon, cantelope, honey dew, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and grapes), but I was in a major cooking mood which doesn't happen often so I took total advantage of it! I ended up in the end with a four-cheese lasagna, bleu cheese appetizer bites (Grandma Van style!), peanut butter-chocolate brownies, puppy chow, and the fruit salad. We had so much leftover fruit that we decided to make sangria when Kendall came home from work and we had the neighbor boys over for dinner.

Tonight was even more food than that with everything people brought! I love the fact that we can get together from ages seventeen through seventy and all hang out playing games or sitting around a fire simply having a good time. Aubrey and I played a horseshoes-type game against Darst and Dale and they joked that it was young people v. old people and I retorted with what Vic always says, "young v. mature" as opposed to old. The friendly banter of the game as the score went back and forth was lots of fun and then after dinner, we all just hung around by the fire sharing stories and inside jokes as if this life that we currently share is how it's always been.

I remember before I left to go to China which was even before coming to Colorado, I was starting to worry that I would fall in love with this job and never want to finish up the music degree. I'm afraid that has happened, but I know I will finish since I barely have any time left. This all just feels so right for me--like it's where I belong.

Barry has been nothing but complimentary to me, especially today (even with silly things like the new haircut). He pulled me aside in the office today and told me that he NEVER lets first-year employees have as many projects as I have going on in the office, but that I have a "gift" that he wants to be able to take full advantage of. Tonight at the mixer, he was mentioning something along those lines to Kendall too and how he was honestly quite surprised that I got hired.

Most people in my age group in the office applied through what is called the "steps" program which is for students so they have a higher advantage of getting a summer job. I applied that way, but since my transcripts said I was already a senior, it was sent back to me. Luckily, I also applied through USAJOBS.GOV. I guess through this way, you are alloted a certain number of "points" depending on answers to questions along with your resume. There are about 400 people that apply this way, in direct competition for the twelve office jobs. Barry told me tonight that I scored 100 which is lucky because he isn't even allowed to look past that to a 99. The fact that my score was exactly what it needed to be and he interviewed so many people that weren't what he wanted until it got to me makes me feel great. He also said that through the extensive background checks, every single one of my past employers bragged about how amazing I had been at work and how I go out of my way to look for things that need to be done and that I have a fine eye for minute details. I don't ever think of myself differently that others, but it's nice to hear that people say these kinds of things about me and that definitely helps me fall asleep with a smile on my face (not that it's hard to do that living here!).

Nature's Mathematics

On Dad's last night here last week, we planned for him to pick me up after work (since he had my car) so we could drive to Bear Lake for sunset. As soon as we got near the lake, it started pouring like crazy so we just circled the parking lot and drove away. The rain had driven out most of the visitors so the roads were almost completely empty. I talked him into stopping at Sprague Lake and we walked around since it's just a 1/2 mile loop. Pretty soon after we started, the rain drizzled out until it stopped and the clouds lifted from the sky. It was nice to share that last sunset with just a couple fishermen who stuck out the miserable weather to enjoy the rest of the evening while the tourons hurried to the warmth of their hotel rooms or dryness of their tents.

Walking around Sprague Lake, we saw that the lake had one stream entering on one side and two exiting on the other. It's so crazy that despite what seems to be more output than input, the lake level stays consistent and the water never drops. The way that nature makes sure that everything stays the way that things are supposed to completely blows my mind. Something makes sure the streams that enter and exit the lake are at a particular level above the bottom of the lake so that it doesn't compeltely empty itself and the mathematics of nature regulate that level to keep it the same.

The same kinds of mathematics are true all across nature, even in the animal world. On my hike day, Dad spotted a mama ptarmigan with five or six baby birds scrambling around on the ground surrounding it. When the mother thought it was time to go, she got most of them in a line behind her and they marched away. Unfortunately for one of those little guys, he didn't catch the memo that they were leaving. He kept hopping around on the logs until he finally realized they had left him. He started running around, but then began chirping in a high-pitched voice to try and figure out what had happened. We watched as mama picked up his sound and sent back a much deeper single retort. Watching them communicate and locate each other through sound amazed us both, especially since they couldn't see each other. You can tell by the picture this guy was barely bigger than a weed.

Watching all the babies around the park right now is really fun, whether it be the playful moose from the other day, baby deer or elk, or even the ducklings that swim single-file behind their mothers. Now that the snow is finally melting, all sorts of signs of a late spring are coming out. The waterfalls are all running with the snowmelt and it's neat to see the moss-covered rocks baring the extra flow without losing a single bit of the green covering. Green seems to be the abundant color, especially mixing with the blues of the sky and the yellows of most of the wildflowers. That might be why the purples and blues in the flowers and birds are my favorites--they are just so rare up here!

Some of the wildflowers above treeline and on the tundra amaze me as well. Another mathematic equation in nature tells them to not grow bigger than a certain amount so they can withstand the winds and harsh climate around the are they grow. The colors of these flowers are even more intense than the larger ones in the lower elevation levels which is surprising considering how small they are. It's these unexpected colors in the smallest flowers possible or the unexpected colors in the sunset following the heavy rain shower that you feel lucky being a witness too. Just like the bald eagle Kendall and I saw when we walked around the lake last night, it's almost as if there is some sort of a challenge and if you make it through the harsh conditions or weather than you too can see these fantastic, limited sights.

Call a Place Paradise and Kiss it Goodbye

Wednesday was another tailgate training day with Barry out back. Instead of sitting at the usual picnic table, we now have made chairs and a table out of tree stumps right on our back porch. There are seven chairs and we have been joking about naming them after the seven dwarfs because they are so small. Instead, I think we should name them after seven joe-schmo tourons: brainless, ill-prepared, clueless, annoying, bear-food, etc.

This week's topic was radio communication along with the seven Leave No Trace Ethics. (Maybe we should just name the stumps after LNT) Whenever he talks with us, he always ends up on completely random tangents and this week was about the word "HUH."

If you think about it, it really is a simple word. Three letters. Even spelling out the word in sign language is the exact same shape of your hand for all three letters, rotated. The tone of the person saying that simple word can mean so many different things though.

If we get people to say the "huh" word in a pensive manner, we know that we've made an impact. It's the pensive-huh that lets you know people are really listening to you and soaking in what you are saying. This engaged response shows the impact of the education you are providing in the backcountry or even in the office about fires, fishing, bear-canisters, etc.

The other way people say the "huh" word is more of a question where people don't know what you are saying nor do they really want to understand. It's the "what"-factor, the time when the things you are saying just flies over their heads. The tourons who visit our park flock this place and completely disregard rules about staying off the tundra because it takes hundreds of years to grow back to what it is now or not feeding the chipmunks and squirrels because they won't be able to find their own food and starve in the winter.

The Eagles have a bunch of great lyrics about nature and "paradise" in their songs, and one of my favorites right now is the line, "call a place paradise and kiss it goodbye" in partner with the Counting Crows lyric, "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot." I've been reading some history books about the town and park that I borrowed from our office and the numbers of visitation before the area was a National Park more than quadrupled even in the very first year after it was named a Park, or paradise. The definition of a ranger is "the keepers of the royal land." That's a HUGE responsibility for people, but the education is what will help people still enjoy the Park while protecting it at the same time. That's also why we need to hear more of the pensive "huhs" rather than the questioning.

There's all of this magnificent beauty everywhere that people don't always truly appreciate. The colors of a sunset or the illumination of the sky during a thunderstorm or even the blue with white puffs drawn into the sky are just up above people but if they are too busy looking down at their feet all the time they will never see what's above them and vice versa. The whole picture is hard to take in, but you need to be willing to spend the extra time to see your whole surroundings rather than just the view that's directly in front of you. The people who come to the entrance gate and say they are "just driving though" and therefore shouldn't need to pay really shouldn't even come into the park. There are so many different levels and depths to the beauty of this area that I don't know if "just driving through" would really be worth it.

Security Breach...Suspect: Badger

We have a badger living in our house and it's HUGE! We knew there was some kind of rodent living down in the garage/basement when we first moved in because the garage was covered from wall to wall with scat. When Christina moved into the basement, she swept that all out and sprayed bleach everywhere to eliminate any traces of the Hanta Virus since that is a huge problem around the park. Within the past week, we have noticed LARGE droppings all around the garage again and have been hearing loud banging noises down there, especially near the water heater.

A few days ago, the hole that is duct taped shut in the hallway near the bathroom was breached and it looked as though an animal had come into our upstairs through there. We even had signs of new teeth marks and uncovering of another hole in the bathroom, so we were already quite hesitant and much more guarded within the past few days than the rest since we have moved in. We were checking under our beds and in the closets before going to sleep, and Kendall's mousetrap under her bed still went off around five this morning but didn't catch the animal that ran away.

This morning began my four days off in a row and I was planning on sleeping in. Instead, I heard Christina run upstairs freaking out and then she called me when she thought I had walked to work. She saw a large furry creature downstairs and it ran towards the water heater in the back corner so she freaked and ran upstairs thinking it was a marmot or raccoon. We freaked out for a tiny bit and made sure all the doors and windows were closed and tried to figure out who to call about the marmot. She got her stuff together and headed out to go climbing when the large badger ran out from a hole under our house into the ditch on the side of our driveway. She screamed and I ran to the deck to see what the problem was and we saw the thing running away.

She took off and I hopped in the shower really fast so I could just get out of the house. I had my computer and books and laundry all ready to go so I wouldn't have to spend any extra time in that house. While I was in the shower though, I heard banging downstairs even louder than usual. As I got out, I heard the front door slam shut but didn't hear anyone inside. It ended up being a lady who works in the park who was there to drop something off. We walked around inside to see if there was anything there and then I took off and headed to the BCO so I could figure out who to call.

Kendall was in the BCO today for an observation/career enhancement day, so I was able to tell her everything that had happened this morning. Barry overheard and immediately got on the phone and alerted the heads of housing, resource management, and maintenance so we can get this fixed right away! I wrote down everything that has happened there since we moved in and we realized this might even explain the bones down in the basement!

Now, I have the day to explore around town and kill before I go pick up Kendall from work and we inspect the house. They offered us somewhere else to live for the next few days, but we really don't want to go through the hassle of moving. I really don't mind animals in the park and have been getting used to the moths and spiders in our house even (which for me is a BIG deal), and seeing a badger outside would be awesome!

It's just the fact that it's living IN our house that I'm way not ok with and hopefully that won't last much longer.

Five Degrees of Separation

Father's Day was amazing and was in fact the first Father's Day where I received a gift!! Dad and I woke up to go to breakfast at Coffee on the Rocks and then I headed in to work and he hung out in the park and in Estes for the day. Afterwards we went to check out the Stanley Hotel and had dinner at Bob and Tony's Pizza before heading back home. I got him some things and a really sappy card, but then he came into my room that night with a book that he had written his own sappy note in. The book is A Sand County Almanac and the back of the cover says it should be placed on the bookshelf with John Muir and Thoreau. He said my writing is reminding him of reading that book so I am anxious to read it myself!

Today was my first solo hike day, but Dad was able to come along. On the bus on the way to the first trailhead (we left my car at a different one so it would only be a ten mile hike instead of having to go all the way back), we talked with the bus driver and the only other person on the bus--a lady from Chicago who is a teacher. While talking, we found out she has good friends in Flagstaff and she made a comment about the five degrees of separation. I really think there is something to that...how each person is connected in a way to another. If you go with the whole Noah story or even earlier about the beginning, then we are all even more connected than we think but even without that, its hard to not see the links between people.

At a party at the guys' house next door (yes, we finally met them!!), Kendall and I met more people because it was a fire crew party and we hadn't met most of those guys. Even so, it seems like they are connected in different ways and I found out one of them who lives there actually was in my first forestry class last semester. Kendall and I have decided we are throwing something at our place on Saturday night, so hopefully we will be able to meet even more people.

We have been fitting in a lot more now. Girls are still a little hesitant, but we have been meeting lots of guys. Part of that might be because there is a shortage of girls in the park as Kendall said earlier, but we are even meeting guys from the YMCA camp which is really fun! We were going to have a movie night tonight with Connor and Shawn but changed it when we heard the plans for next door. Those two are lots of fun to hang out with though and Connor actually got me to dance at The Rock on Friday night!

Tomorrow night is a BCO+1 staff party so I need to make fruit salad for that and then Wednesday night is bowling with the Y. This weeks theme is the 80s and we are going as the breakfast club with Connor, Shawn, Scott, and Patrick. If our costumes win we get cash prizes which are always welcome!

I am going to start reading the book and will update with thoughts I'm sure. Tomorrow morning Dad and I are going to get more cinnamon rolls before I work at 10am and I am sure that will completely make my day!

Catching Up

Life has been just go, go, go lately and I've been having trouble finding the time to write. Part of that might be that I'm working on my China scrapbook from the two weeks before coming to Estes Park and RMNP, but that should be done by the end of this week! One of the most exciting things going on right now is that DAD'S HERE! He flew in Thursday night and is here until Wednesday and it's even better because tomorrow is Father's Day.

Thursday I got off work a little before five but didn't need to go pick up Dad from Denver until seven thirty because his flight was getting in at nine fifteen. Unfortunately, he had a seven hour layover in Salt Lake City, but I guess that's what happens when you have a free flight from frequent-flier-miles and don't get the biggest choices on your flight plan. Waiting for him to come through to the main section of the terminal, I had a fun time watching people. As they came up the escalators from the trains that bring them from the plane to the terminal, everyone looked exhausted, miserable, and irritable. The minute they saw the person waiting for them on the other side of the gate, their faces completely changed to the point where everyone seemed like they were glowing with excitement (or maybe relief to finally be done with traveling). Dad's face was no exception...until we waited at the baggage carousel only to find out his bag was still in Salt Lake City. We ended up having to wait for the next flight to arrive and didn't leave the airport until after midnight which landed us in Estes Park around 1:30-2:00am.

Yesterday and today couldn't have been more perfect. There's something really magical about this place and I'm so happy I can finally share it with someone! Yesterday, we drove up to get the world's BEST cinammon rolls (I'm telling you...if you visit we will go there!) and then drove across the entire park. It got down to thirty-three degrees but the skies were clear blue with barely any clouds all day. We drove on a moose hunt since that's his favorite animal and found five throughout the day! At one spot, we saw a baby moose following it's parent in the most rambunctious manner. It was running and jumping and just living the carefree-moose life.

I love that animals that young (including humans) can live their lives without having to worry about the bigger things in life. Barry was talking with us during our tailgate training Wednesday afternoon about how kids have these huge thoughts and large brain spans with peripheral vision that goes forever. Through school, relations, and just growing up in general, blinders are tightened on more and more to shape people's thinking into the same patterns. We learn "right" from "wrong" and other things like that so that we fit into the stereotypical mold. It was fun to watch the baby moose jumping and running around without having to worry about being "moosely" just to fit in. Its mom just kept on eating as if everything were perfectly normal.

When we got back last night, we had chips and salsa with beers on the deck and then got into pasta action. Kendall and Christina were both home and we all sat around for the first time to have dinner together. As we were eating, someone walked along our back window that is in the dining room and it freaked me out. It ended up just being Joe and Brady (two of the guys who live in the house next door) to see if we were going out to The Rock and just wanting to come say hi. They stuck around for a beer then we all split up to get ready to go out.

The Rock is the bar where people our age, especially park and YMCA camp employees, go on Friday nights in Estes. There is always a live bluegrass band which is fun to listen to and everyone seems to know how to dance with each other. Inside is the bar and a bunch of tables with the stage and dance floor on the other end. There is a patio outside with bar tables and stools and a fire pit which is where we spent the majority of the night. Near the end, we headed inside where Christina and Kendall started dancing around individually then with some of the guys. I was much more hesitant but Connor got me out there by the end of the night. I was surprised to find out how easy it was to follow and I actually really enjoyed spinning around and just trusting him to not let me fall. Kendall laughed at me when it was over because I was both fighting it and completely smiling the entire time. It's funny how there are so many directions you can be pulled over a simple situation such as dancing, not to mention real-world-relevant issues.

We got home a little after one and then I woke up this morning to go on a hike with dad a little before seven. We hiked up thirty-four switchbacks and over two thousand feet to the top of a mountain called Twin Sisters. They are fraternal and we summited the tallest one to have lunch before the afternoon thunderstorm hit. The hike was steep but the views were amazing and well worth it. Dad took a nap when we got home and I showered and got back to work on that scrapbook. After he woke up and showered we headed into Estes for a BBQ dinner and then walking around town.

I am loving sharing all of this and it's making me more and more excited for when Melinda and Meredith come for my birthday! I have been a total tour guide for his visit and I am surprising myself with how much knowledge I actually have about the park even though it's only been three weeks. We have driven about 200 miles since we got home from the airport the other night and I feel like I haven't stopped talking since then. Tomorrow is Father's Day and I have to work from 11-7:30, but we are going to get breakfast before and then I'll take him to dinner afterwards so hopefully it will be a great day for him!

Overcoming Obstacles

I got out of the backcountry around 3:30pm this afternoon and loved our trip. It got off to quite a slow start from the BCO folks since we had to meet over by the Fall River Entrance Station which is about twenty minutes from our office and we were late loading into the cars. Once we arrived at the Wilderness Crew's Cabin, we found out we were starting from a different trail head than we expected and had to go back to the BCO to grab gaiters and yak-traks for the snow. We finally got to the Bear Lake Trail Head, but had to finish repacking our bags because we needed to add the new gear inside.

During this whole time, our office was getting really frustrated because by leaving from the Bear Lake TH, we were going around the loop through the exact area that we warn visitors against going through because there is a HUGE snow slide danger. (We aren't allowed to say avalanche danger because we can get sued for "predicting" avalanches or something like that.) The total mileage from the Bear Lake TH to the Fern Lake Patrol Cabin was about six miles and we saw no snow for the first mile and just patches for the next half. After that, we were never out of snow and it even snowed on us twice during the hike.

When we came to the elbow between the Sourdough and Odessa Lake campsites, we saw the exact areas we give the warnings about. What we realized though was that rather than a snow slide warning, we should be giving people slide warnings! The snow was melting/packed down hard enough that a slide wasn't the thing to worry about. The issue was that we were crossing on a slope that was at about forty-five degrees with nothing on the way down to stop us if we slipped on the ice. We were crossing in single file and it took everything I had to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

My number one greatest fear in life is falling. Most people think I'm just afraid of heights, but I will climb out on the edge of a cliff any day if there isn't a drop that goes completely straight down. It's the drops that don't look like they will ever stop that make me very anxious. In the beginning of the snow patches, I slid on what I thought was a steep slope that was only a couple feet high and completely froze on the trail. John had to come back for me, but I wouldn't let him touch me. My goal was to talk myself through the problem and focus my mental energy to get me across the ice patch. The second time we came to an icy area, John lent me one of his hiking sticks to use if I felt like I was going to slide. I didn't use that and just kept my focus to get across. Even before the slide area, I was post holing up past my knee in some areas and landed on my butt once. By the time we got to the slide spot where there were drops at least fifty feet or more and snow fields that went up and around the corner, I was getting into a mental state where I would be able to handle the obstacles in front of me. I almost froze once, but made it all the way without needing help from Hannah or John (the rest of our hiking trio that separated from the other BCO crew) or even the three LE (Law Enforcement) Rangers who came by on their way from the West side of the park. The fact that I was able to overcome my mental block and tell myself that things were going to be OK really made me excited for hiking Long's Peak by the end of the summer. If I keep pushing myself, who knows what I will be able to accomplish.

We had lunch when we got to the cabin and went off with the group of about thirty for different backcountry training exercises. It kept periodically raining and/or snowing so the burrito dinner we all pitched in on really hit the spot. All sorts of bonding and hanging out happened in the cabin until people started going to bed so Alissa (25?), Hannah (17), and I (the BCO girls) went out to our tent to rough it for the night. It snowed quite a bit as we walked out, but we crashed as soon as we got into our sleeping bags.

It was nice being able to sit around with all sorts of age groups and talk a little bit of philosophy last night. Something someone said that stuck in my mind as we went to bed was a conversation stemming off a discussion about Into the Wild. The thoughts went along the line of when someone dies, the world keeps on spinning and things go on in nature and in the big picture like nothing was changes. In the smaller picture though, the lives of the people the deceased touched at some point are noticeably altered and it's surprising the impact one person can have on so many unrelated people.

This morning, we had an orienteering exercise where we got lost in the woods and used maps, compasses, and GPS units to get ourselves out. After lunch, we hiked out to the Fern Lake TH as a big BCO group of eight. I had a nice time hiking with Walt since we fell behind after speaking with some campers for a while. I took a lot of pictures at the site and on the hike back today. Often, I would just hold up the camera and shoot while walking and then look to see what came out and was really surprised. I also kept altering the colors--changing between color and b/w. It's funny how sepia seemed to be the perfect coloring for my China pictures but the b/w look fits better here. Maybe my mind has been influenced by Ansel Adams and his park photography, but it really does just seem to work.

Coming back out of the backcountry, I noticed all my bruises from my pack that I wasn't aware of when I was out there and took a nice hot shower to clean up. I talked to Dad and can't believe I get to see him from Thursday to Wednesday! Hopefully this will be a good Father's Day for him and I am just excited to have my first visitor to share this whole experience with!

Feeling Infinite

Driving around downtown running errands today made me realize how close to summer we finally are! It's been snowing/raining every day still depending on what the elevation is where you are standing, and I am ready for some more of this sunlight we've had yesterday and today! I went through the downtown area rather than taking the shortcut to avoid the cluster and couldn't believe the number of people walking around compared to the last few weeks and this was a Sunday which isn't one of the busiest days!

I've been trying to take the time to notice more things lately. Using another Format reference, "snails see the benefits...the beauty in every inch..." The whole experience with almost hitting a couple animals the other day and then hiking with Vic, etc. has been helping me to slow down my pace. Even in the office earlier in the week when it was just Alissa and I left, I was moving slower than usual but it felt really good to not rush everything. Dale actually got mad at me even earlier in the week for going too fast. He wasn't really mad I guess but it made me angry. He said I was going too fast and that I was probably making a bunch of mistakes. I know he doesn't really know me yet so he doesn't know how much of a perfectionist and fast-paced worker I am, so I asked if he wanted to double check everything before I was done. He said yes, in fact he would, and it made me go twice as slow. He never found a single mistake, and didn't make any more comments good or bad and it just frustrated me for the rest of the day.

Kendall and I went for our walk downtown yesterday and on the way home, we looked around our street a lot more than normal and commented on all the different things we saw that we normally just drive right by. The bright colors really caught our eye, especially the purple birds and flowers in the sea of green and blue. I remember a project Meredith did for school last semester where she had to rename the box of Crayola crayons for a specific state, and I don't think there are nearly enough shades to begin naming the colors just in the Estes area.

As I was driving downtown today, I noticed the bumper sticker on the very bottom corner of the car in front of me that said "The earth doesn't belong to people, people belong to the earth." Looking closer, I saw that the license plate (although it looked like the regular Colorado plate) was a Native American-specific plate which made sense with the quote. It made me start thinking about working last summer and learning about the different SW Native American cultures and traditions and the differences in view regarding ownership of the earth along with what I learned in the Native American ecology class last semester. I remember the Hopi views of Father Sky and Mother Earth. I find it hard to think that the sky and earth are two separate entities. Maybe that is there kind of trilogy so-to-speak, and that the two figures just embody the way that they work together in harmony. Perhaps that's also why one is a male figure and the other is female?

I really liked that quote from the bumper sticker though--the idea that earth really isn't anyone's property. It's like when I went to the table tonight and Kendall moved her feet off the chair for me to sit down. Later, we were goofing around and she made a comment like "fine, I'll move since you were here first" even though she was. The earth was here first though in the case of the bumper sticker quote. The idea that someone just was riding around in the west and came upon this fantastic area of the country just blows my mind. How amazing would it be to be the first person to see the untouched land? Wow. Then there are the signs you see about Private Property, yadda yadda. It makes me question the validity of that statement. I guess the buildings and material objects are private, but the signs that forbid trespassing and warn you to keep off the land seem completely contradictory with what should be allowed. How can anyone have the right to post a sign like that when the land doesn't truly belong to them?

In terms of paying attention and slowing down to notice my surroundings, Barry had some rocks made in the time between last summer and this one that line the path between the Visitor Center and our office. There are about ten that are sporadically placed along the walk with notable quotes carved into the faces. I have used one of them before in an entry, and I might have already mentioned the one about 3/4 of the way down the path that reminds the visitors to have their license plate number before they get to our office. One of the very last ones is a Huron saying that says, "Listen to the voice of nature for it holds treasures for you."

Last week I reread one of my favorite books, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and there are parts where the main character says he feels infinite. Being here in Colorado, I can completely relate to that. In the past two weeks I have been here (it seems like a LOT longer already and not in a bad way!) I feel I have changed a lot. I'm not sure exactly what the changes have been, but I know one big one is that I realize how I am fully capable of not needing anyone around and that I can live on my own in a completely new situation and turn out just fine. The other huge change has been in the strengthening of my faith just being in a place as magnificent as this. Last week when Kendall and I climbed to the top of Eagle Cliff Mountain, I stood at the top and looked around in a full circle and though the exact words from the book, "I feel infinite." There really is no other way to describe everything here.

It's the things like standing on top of a mountain and seeing endless beauty no matter which way you look or at the foot of a waterfall and feeling the mist dance off your face when the breeze picks up or even on our deck watching the sky change and the colors of the sunset take over the blues as the sun illuminates the clouds that show me there's no reason to doubt any greater being that would make all this possible. Listening to a song in the car on the way to Boulder yesterday, I heard a line about there being no such thing as "God's graffiti" for people, but I really think I've found it. His signature seems to be on everything here and I think that's a big part of feeling so infinite.

The Keys to Life

On one of our tailgate training days, Barry shared some of his philosophical ideas with John, Neil, and I. One of my favorites was his view that everyone is born with the keys to life but once they come out of the womb, they are thrown into a big pot, scrambled up, and distributed with other people all over. Throughout your life, your mission is to have relationships and dialogue with other people on different levels to find out if they are holding one of your keys to life so you can together unlock the meaning. He compared this to the Keys to Success which you are also born with in his opinion, but you hold on to these and use them whenever you need to unlock your next roadblock in life.

I really like that idea of relationships and dialogue to find the keys. This summer, I have been noticing a lot of those two concepts in and out of the office. I guess I really notice them all the time, but I have been paying more attention to them here. Darst (one of our VIP ((volunteers)) who is probably around 60) and I were talking Friday afternoon about the dynamics in the office. The range of ages in that little log cabin go from seventeen to over seventy, but the fantastic thing is everyone is a peer. No one really looks at someone else like they don't know what they are doing or that they can't handle something because they are too young or old. Everyone is held to the same standards of expectations, and everyone counts on everyone else when they need help.

I love that I am pretty much left alone at this point in terms of helping the visitors. When they come in to plan a trip, I am now fully capable of helping them get what sites they want or even to direct them around the park if they aren't sure what they are looking for. I know which sites are near lakes or rivers or mountains to help them plan the perfect trip. It's funny though because I had a question the other day (not the only one) and asked Walt (Darst's husband) if he could help me out and he in turn asked me a technology question later in the day. That kind of communal interaction is what is so great--the fact that the two different generations need the help from each other in order to make the office run as smoothly as possible.

Kendall and I have been getting out more to try and meet people around the town. Thursday night, JT came up from Denver so we went to dinner with him at a place called Chicago's and then headed to the Wheel Bar for the end of trivia night. That place is still not my favorite at all...it's kinda shady and the people there are usually lots older than us. Friday night, Kendall and I went to the Rock which we heard is the place to be for park staff on Friday nights. We loved it. There was live music, a bunch of people our age, and some friendly ones who actually started talking with us. We feel like the newbies still because everyone knows each other from last summer or more. When we walk in places, people look at us and wonder who we are rather than just coming up to meet us. We had a couple beers and talked with some guys who work at the YMCA camp down the road. They invited us to go bowling with them Wednesday night, so that should be fun!

Yesterday, we walked downtown and got coffee at a place called Coffee on the Rocks which is backed up against a really pretty pond with mallards and coy fish. After we walked back home (a couple miles) we showered off and headed to Boulder to run some errands. I got my China pictures developed and can now start the scrapbook!! (That's today's project since I have another day off) On the way home, we passed Aaron from my office walking up our street on the way to a party at the house of one of the Trails Crew guys. We weren't sure which house it was but we drove him down the road looking until we decided it was still too early. On the way home, we met one of our neighbor boys (Brady) and said we'd meet him at the party later.

The party was the same kind of deal as at the Rock where everyone had their groups going on and they just looked at us funny like we didn't belong. By the end of the night, things were much better and we were meeting lots of people. It's funny that guys are more willing to talk to new people than the girls are. It makes me sad that people can't just be nice to people and try to include the new ones because they too were once new.

Today is laundry day alongs with starting the scrapbook, but the laundromat always gives me a chance to people watch and observe that similar intergenerational communication.

Tom and Jerry Windows

Today's work included a lot of training sessions that were mandatory, including a rundown of our backcountry overnight next monday-tuesday. As we loaded into the van, we realized the seven of us couldn't fit into five seats, so I drove with Alissa to the training. It was great getting to spend some time with her one-on-one since she's only in the office half the week and we began bonding over driving automatic, The Office, etc. She also stopped me on the way out to the car and said thanks for writing this. She found the link on my facebook and said that it really has helped her realize how she has changed since her first summer here (she's been here seven seasons and is a music teacher in Colorado during the school year!) and she wants to try and get it back to the same excitement when she started. That comment totally made my day. I don't really write this for other people. I know other people read it and I love the comments, but as I've said this is kinda my journal for this summer. Knowing that I can make that kind of an impact on someone without trying really puts things in perspective for me though and I really appreciated her saying that.

Last night while getting ready for bed, Kendall and I decided to go on a hike after work today and invited Christina (our new roommate who is super cool!) to come with us. Kendall met me in the office at 4pm when she got off and was able to change in our bathroom. When I got off at 4:30pm I did the same, and we waited for Christina since she got off at 5pm. We didn't hear from her and sent her a message as we started driving towards the mountain.

Let me tell you about this hike. It's called Eagle Cliff Mountain. The whole thing is covered in trees except for the very top which is granite and looks like an eagle's perch. The other important fact: there is no trail. We drove towards the YMCA and through some resorts to park as close to the base as we could, made sure we had coats in our packs, and began the bushwacking. About an eighth of the way up (this thing seemed to go forever!) we saw a couple people who were in NPS uniforms and were obviously using binoculars and a GPS of some sort. We saw some elk beyond them and figured that was what they were looking at so we tried to move to the side a bit instead of going straight up. Instead, the man waved us over and let us look through his nocs at a white hawk nesting up closer to the peak. After watching that and getting warnings about ducking if we heard her making noises at us so we wouldn't be bloody by the time we got back down, we continued our trek up the side of this thing.




After many stops to catch our breath, we made it to the top and had a great 360 degree view of the area, including park HQ, Estes Park, mountains, lakes, roads...the works. We could see our house way down and some trails that go back behind our house that we are going to check out soon too! We took tons of pictures, and every time I went to put my camera away, something else would catch my eye. The clouds were blowing around quickly in the sky, so the lighting kept changing. Just before we were getting ready to go, the sun shone through the clouds in a way so that you could see the beams the entire way down to where they touch the earth. Standing so high above everything makes that seem even more larger-than-life than it usually seems. We tried taking pictures, but gave up because that is just one of those things you can't capture on film. It reminds me of a line from a Format song: Pictures only prove you can't convince.

We finally decided to head down, and rather than go the gradual "pseudo-switchback" way we improvised on the way up the mountain, we opted for the "straight-down" method. We immediately saw my car at the bottom and that's when I realized I locked the keys in the car before we left. It was one of those feelings that just overwhelms you to the point that you are almost knocked down and you don't even need to check your bag because you know exactly what happened regardless of any reasons why you didn't realize you forgot them at the bottom of the mountain. We tore my bag apart looking for them, and then hoped they were just on the ground down by the car.

We went down in creative style ranging from two feet to down on all fives (butt included) which turned out ok minus one slip from Kendall when I tried pointing out a flower. As we kept going, the darkening clouds seemed to tell us we were about to be poured on and the mountain lion/bear warnings about the area began freaking me out as we passed some dry bones in a couple different areas. When it started flattening out near the very bottom, we found a family of deer that were frightened away and eventually made it to the car where there were no keys.

Our only real option at this point was to hike all the way to our house, so off we went. We were doing ok and still beating the rain when we came up to a creek. We just looked at each other and knew we had to figure out some way across it. Kendall opted for the stick that didn't look like it could hold the weight of a mouse and made it while I "rock-hopped" across some pretty submerged rocks. After about half an hour, we made it home and got the spare key and Kendall drove us back to where I had left my car.

When we got home, we showered and made a big spaghetti dinner and just sat down to watch three episodes of The Office because we figured we deserved it. We also threw a batch of chocolate-chip cookies with extra white chocolate-chips on top into the oven because we figured we deserved those too. We still hadn't heard from Christina at this point, but she walked in at the end of the third episode.

She had been on a SAR (Search and Rescue) since 2:30pm this afternoon. Talk about an exciting second day of work! She's on the Wilderness Crew but they were called out to help with some fallen climbers. A group of four was out climbing some of the ice in the central area of the park when I guess something slipepd and the leader ended up with a broken ankle and the fifteen-year-old ended up hurting his neck. Both had to be carried out from the trail, and the misison seemed pretty intense. After hearing about her adventures with the rescue, ours sounded a little more childish, but as I said earlier, it's all about putting things in perspective.

All the windows in this house are set up with Tom and Jerry windows. You know the kind--Tom would get Jerry close by and pull the cord so Jerry would be wound up inside of the blind. I think about perspective every morning when I am getting ready and open my curtains and look out the window at the mountains. Every morning they are different yet the same and it just depends on the way that I am looking out. If I look at just the mountain, of course it's the same thing each day. If I take the whole picture into account though, the sky changes and cars on the road down by the park change, even animals through our yard can change. I guess everything in life is all about the big picture-little picture way of loking at things and it depends on the perspective you take that helps alter the way you see them.

Fairy Slippers

According to Greek mythology (such as in the Iliad), there was an oceanid nymph named Kalypso who lived in peaceful isolation in a luxurious cave on an island called Ogygia. Named after this nymph, the mysterious and beautiful Calypso Orchid (also known as the fairy slipper or Venus' slipper) prefers solitude and undisturbed sanctuaries within the northern forested regions around the globe. Specific conditions of shade and forest are needed to naturally support the 10cm tall plant whose purple blooms can be a pleasant sporadic sight on hiking trails from in the early summer, yet the plants come to full bloom in nearly twenty years. The rarity of the bloom is the biggest draw for people, since it is considered an endangered species throughout the US and other countries. It is easily disturbed and does not transplant well, mainly owing to its dependence on specific soil fungi and "pollination by deception" with insects.

This was some of the background information I learned from Vic in the car on the way to our hike this morning. This was HD (hike day) number two, and I still have to go with someone else since I don't get officially backcountry trained until the overnight trip next Monday-Tuesday. We headed down towards the southeast corner of the park to the Wild Basin area, and Vic was really excited to see some of the rare orchids that bloom down there for just a few weeks during this time of the year.

The nice thing about hiking with Vic was our pacing. We ended up only doing about eight miles, but it took the same amount of time as the sixteen mile hike Aubrey and I did on Saturday. Let me give you a little background on Vic: He is a retired Texas cop who worked for the Sherrif after retirement before deciding to work seasonally in RMNP. This is his seventh? year in the BCO (Backcountry Office) and he is probably a little over sixty years old altogether. He loves learning about the plants and animals, so I definitely got a botany lesson on our hike! We took time to look up each of the flowers we paced and literally "stopped to smell the roses."

Just a little bit down the trail, we spotted our first Calypso Orchid on the left side (creek side) of the path. I had only seen one of these flowers so far and wasn't really sure what we were looking for and couldn't believe how tiny it was! I could tell how it got its nickname because it really does look like a ballet slipper of sorts. I also realized that if I had been going my normal pace without Vic, I would have walked right past this and the other dozen or so that we saw on the trail throughout the whole day. By opening up my eyes, slowing down, and soaking in the sights around me I was able to see this flower that is extremely rare for most people.

As we continued down after that first sighting, we came to the first backcountry campsite we were inspecting about two miles down the trail. When we reached the tent area, we were astonished to see the remains of a campfire from the night before (campfires are illegal in almost all backcountry sites), trash, a shovel, and CIGARETTE BUTTS when there weren't even any permits written for that site to be used! Let me work backwards here and say that I just don't get the smoking when people are backcountry camping and trying to enjoy the wilderness and fresh air. The other stuff about illegal camping and campfires though drives me crazy too.

Ok, so it's been raining and snowing here and the fire danger is super low right now. That still doesn't make it ok to do whatever these visitors want to do. The rules have been established since WAY before I got here to make sure the park is a safe environment for everyone because it is a park for the people--a National park. Thirty-one years ago, a huge chunk of the area we were hiking was taken out by a wildfire and the evidence is still all around. You can see stripes down the sides of the mountains where the burn was. Granted, there is a lot of regrowth from the Aspen and Lodgepole Pines because fire helps them grow the fastest, but you can still see the scar on the earth.

The fact that people act without giving any regard to their surroundings is starting to make me sad. Misisng out on the Calypso or the marmot that was pretending to be a turtle underneath a rock today or the beauty and amazing sounds of the roaring cascades and waterfalls we passed throughout the day would make me feel like I missed out on the main park experience. This whole day definitely taught me I need to slow down so I don't miss the little things in life.

Hopes and Goals

Barry placed a sheet of paper in each of our boxes last week that we need to turn into him ASAP. On it are only three words. At the top of the page: NAME. Right underneath that: HOPES. About halfway down the page is the last word: GOALS. So, what's the difference between hopes and goals?

Goals are things you can achieve solely by your own actions. An example of this would be to lost ten pounds, which would be based on what you eat, how much you exercise, etc. There's very little chance of an outside influence preventing you from achieving that goal (except maybe death or a broken limb).

Hopes are things you want, but that you don't have total control over. An example of this would be the hope to have ten kids. Factors that influence on this would include fertility, current life situations, age, etc.

The difference between hopes and goals is all about what you can do. If you can achieve that thing all by your own action, it's a goal. If there are outside factors that matter in getting what you want, it's a hope. That definitely doesn't mean people need to just have hopes or just have goals. Hopes of being a millionaire and living on a cruise liner touring the world keep the mind full of spirit and life would be just plain sad without those far-fetched hopes. The thing is, hopes shouldn't be on your goal list. If they were, there's a very real chance that they wouldn't be achieved and it likely wouldn't be your fault.

That's why I like that Barry gave space for a list of both. This way, we think realistically and fantastically. My lists had things from all over the place, but I will name some of my park-specific items. My biggest goal for this summer is to summit Long's Peak. This is the only 14er in the park (14,000+ feet at the summit) and will test my mental and physical capabilities. The last two miles before the summit include treking through the Boulderfield before reaching the Keyhole, the Ledges (many of which have sheer cliffs of 1,000ft or more just off the edge), the Trough (1,000 vertical feet up), the Narrows (the most exposed section of the hike), and the Notch (signifying the Homestretch to the football field-sized, flat summit. It sounds way intense and scary, but by late July/early August be looking for pictures. Another of my goals while here is to learn some healthier cooking and eating habits which is already going well. I think living with Kendall the vegetarian will help with that. :) My hopes are a little more personal, but I will share that one of them was to have my sisters come visit and it looks like that is actually going to happen!

As I was coming in the library, I passed the bathroom door and watched an eight-year-old girl get her finger stuck in the door. When I got to her it was out, but she started crying like crazy. I don't blame her--if I were in her situation I would have been doing the same! I put my stuff down at the desk and got band aids and alcohol wipes and we went in the bathroom to clean her up while one of the librarians looked for her older sister. By the time her sister got there, the crying had died down and the finger was bandaged up, so she was super appreciative. It feels nice to help people and feel like you've played your hand in karma's favor. The little girl was probably scared to death because this stranger was helping her out, but I just tried talking to her and calming her down which worked. I think I'm going to be a pretty good mom someday. (Not any time soon though, that's for sure!)

Our third roommate moved in today and got home right as I was leaving to come here to the library. (Hooray day off!) Even though I have internet at home, I'm trying to load my China pictures to develop and it was just going way too slow. She seems to be about the same age as me and will fit in well with the two of us. Kendall has been in Colorado Springs all weekend, so I've been braving the big house by myself. Last night, I heard a mountain lion meowing/howling? close by and freaked out. I ended up reading until after midnight to try and clear my mind. This morning, I woke up to some light snow and a couple of badgers playing tag and climbing on the bumper of my car. I will have to keep an eye out for those rascals. There's a full moon tonight, so Aubrey, her roommate Lauren, and I might go on a night hike somewhere which will be exciting!

Ladies Day Out

I am sitting on my deck right now with a well-deserved beer after today's excursion, watching our favorite three bucks (Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail) eat their evening meal. This morning as I was getting ready, they also graced me with their presence out back letting me watch them eat as I made lunch for this afternoon and filled my camelback. Three deer just wandered up from the side yard to munch on an aspen as well and one wagged her tail when I said hi. I wonder if they understand more than we think they do...you know, the childish ideas that animals can talk too even though they might not actually do it? Lydia (the bird who sits on our windowsill and pecks at our window every morning) also showed up to wish me luck on what I thought was going to be a ten-mile hike.

I showed up at the office a little before 8:00am so Aubrey and I could get the radios and first aid kit to add to our packs. We drove out and dropped off her car at one end and sat in mine to get to the other trailhead at Cow Creek. As we started hiking, it was about 8:30am and a light breeze filled the air as we radioed Dispatch and began our journey through the mountains. About a mile in, we came to a junction to either continue the way we had informed Dispatch we were going or take a 6mile detour to Gem Lake. We had heard really good things about the lake and decided to check it out. After a grueling 3miles completely uphill, we made it to the water tucked back in the middle of nowhere with a rock wall as the backdrop. The lake was completely gorgeous and we were so glad we had gone that way, despite our already sore legs. After a half-hour break and a talk with a lady from Egypt whom I had written a backcountry permit for five days earlier, we turned back and went the three miles downhill back to the first junction.

At this point, we had traveled 7miles with a half-hour break, and it was only 11:30am. We turned to head back on our original route towards Bridal Veil Falls, with a short detour at two of our backcountry campsites. The last mile towards the fall was another complete uphill climb, with steps carved into the rocks that ran along the river. By the time we got up to our destination, we were beat and sat down for a half-hour lunch. We took out our map and evaluated our route and decided to continue the way we had set out, but to skip a 1mile detour since we had replaced it with Gem Lake. After the mile back down from the waterfall, we took another turn at a junction and realized we had already traveled 10miles (which was our original plan) and still had 6 more to go!

The next two miles were the worst of the trip. The trail went completely up with only switchbacks. The discouraging part about switchbacks is if you look straight down, you can see the exact spot where you were five minutes ago and you are still gasping for air because of the steep slopes. We were already exhausted because this was mile 11 and 12, but we slowly made it to a point where we got to the top of the trees and could only see the horizon in the distance rather than more of the same mountain. A sign ahead said 4miles left, and we began the long downhill journey to Lumpy Ridge Trailhead.

Altogether today, we saw 82 people (I counted). Six were climbers, four were backpackers, and everyone was super friendly. Aubrey and I were joking around that Disneyland's slogan is wrong "The Happiest Place on Earth." There's more magic and happiness here because it's real and it's not bought or covered with costumes. Maybe it was because we were in uniform, but we stopped to at least smile and say hi to every single person, and every single person either beat us or returned the salutation. There's something about that special connection even if it's for a few minutes to learn a lady came from San Antonio and is hiking with her dad but it's not a vacation--her mom is sick but they are at least able to get out so they aren't stuck home thinking about it all day, or about the older man who lives in Boulder and the older woman who lives in Fort Collins but they get together every other week or so to hike in the park and have been doing so since they met a few years ago snowshoeing in a different area of the park. They way people can start talking without holding back is just so friendly and eye-opening.

The nature and wildlife completely blew my mind today too. Aubrey and I talked a lot and got to know each other a lot better, but sometimes we would just be quiet and listen to nature as we hiked. There's so much that people miss when they are just listening to their ipods out here. The sounds of the wind through the trees and the differences between blowing through a pine or aspen. The sounds of the water cascading over the rocks or flowing gently through a smoother section. The insects who click, squeak, chirp, etc. and aren't even worried enough to stop when you pass by. It's Nature's Symphony.

A few different times on the trail (especially around the water), we would take a step and dozens of pale purple butterflies would swarm up from the ground. When their wings were closed, they were brown and blended in with the mud but if you walked by, they lit up the trail and fluttered around playing tag with one another. The idea that they showed up when you least expected them made me start thinking about butterflies in general. There are all sorts of mythological or biblical significances and roles that butterflies play, but they all have some sort of a magical quality in common.

Another major nature thing that stuck out in my mind today had to do with trees again. Looking at an aspen grove on the side of the last super steep section, I noticed that the trees were really, really tall and straight but the leaves only grew on the very top section. Looking through pictures of Gem Lake when I got home, I also noticed how all of the tree roots had been uncovered (possibly by the wind) so it looked like the trees were standing on their tiptoes. This made me start thinking about the phrase "growing up." I've never really understood the questions about what kids want to be when they grow up, because they are really growing older, not necessarily taller. In this case though, the trees were all growing up because they do get talled and begin reaching for the sky. Just something I'm thinking about...

Someone was talking to me yesterday about writing a book with these things at the end of the summer. It's funny because as I was walking to work earlier yesterday, I had been starting to think about the same thing. The more I think about it though, that's not what these are for. The entries range from descriptions of my day to a look inside my brain up here, but it's more of an open journal that others can read. I love reading the comments and am using this as a connection with the outside world (according to who's been reading it all the way to the UK somehow!) but I think that's about as far as it is going to go. I'm getting excited to have my sisters maybe visit for my birthday, and will extend to everyone the same offer I gave them...

If you can figure out how to get here, everything during your stay will be free.

I don't think that's a bad deal at all and I can even drive to Denver to pick you up from the airport if that's the way you want to go. It doesn't look like I will be getting to Flagstaff this summer, but I would love to have any connections with the outside world once and a while. Even a phone call is nice but remember the hour time difference. :)

Open Your Eyes

On the drive from the coffee shop where I last updated to my driveway, I remembered some parts that I forgot to mention. (INTERNET AT HOME NOW BTW!!)

I've almost hit two different animals between yesterday and today with my car when they tried running out on the road in front of me. Both times, I saw them happening and was able to step on the brakes before anything happened and luckily nobody was behind me, but they were both very scary situations! What it got me wondering was if that was a sign to pay even closer attention to the things around me.

On the flight back from S Korea to LA, I watched Australia and wrote down some quotes that really stuck in my mind. One of them was from Nullah to "Mrs. Boss" when he said, "When Mrs. Boss first come here, she look but she don't see. Now she got her eyes open for first time."

I've been thinking that my eyes have been opening up more and more each day I'm here...I think my mind has been too. I keep saying there's something about this place that's almost magical and that it's hard not to believe in things when you are here, but that's so hard to show if it's not a firsthand experience. I was also thinking on the ride home that I should try taking a picture from a specific spot throughout the summer, but I don't want that to become a chore more than anything else.

So anyway, even though it was getting dark, I started looking closer on the drive home tonight. I saw my favorite herd of bucks in the island before High Drive (my street) and Moraine (the road that goes into the park) but then saw some other white butts that belonged to the White-Tailed deer. That made my mind go to earlier tonight when I got off the phone and watched that same herd in our front yard and a few deer on the side of our house.

I wonder if humanity can learn more by paying closer attention to animals. One might argue that they are segregating themselves because they are staying apart by species, but I think it's more of a learning to coexist and work together despite their differences. There is some sort of mutual understanding between the two that let them graze in the same areas without conflict.

Similarly, Kendall and I spotted three marmots out of our dining room window tonight but realized the closest one was actually a badger. The fact that those animals can be just a tree apart and not fight amazes me.

While I am observing the positive sides of coexistion? (I guess that is now a word), I can also draw to an animal interaction we watched from one of the office windows today. A dead golden-mantle squirrel was lying in the road out front and a magpie came to start eating it. We watched the beautiful black/white/blue-tipped bird peck at this creature who was fulfilling it's duty in the circle of life. Enter turkey vulture, stage left. This second bird swooped in, scared away the magpie, and flew to the grass by a crow to taunt its good fortune. The crow and turkey vulture got in a fight over the meat, and the magpie tried to sneak in a little more of its meal while avoiding the duel.

Maybe one of the questions in life is whether we want to be a graceful elk or a scavenging turkey vulture. Do we want to be able to get along with those around us with peaceful understandings and interactions or would we rather fight to be on top while destroying the possible relationships of those around us?

Tailgate Training, Fingerprints of God, or Snowing Up

I forgot to talk about the training Neil, John, and myself had with Barry yesterday morning for a few hours. We got to talk with him about basic office things, but he also told us some neat information about the park. Looking at the 3D map that’s on our north office wall, he pointed out how his idea that the wind always goes from California to New York is true because all the western slopes of the peaks are smooth, but the eastern sides are much more rugged. That’s why, he said, the east side of the park is more populated—people would rather explore the rougher terrain because it provides more obstacles. The most popular area is around Bear Lake, and he pointed out the five canyons/fingers that make up the major backcountry area. Looking at it, it’s almost as though some huge being just put his hand into the earth and pulled—kinda like when someone drags his hand through the sand at the beach. The major exploration areas then happen in the fingerprint areas. First is the pinky finger, then the thumb, index, middle, and finally ring finger. I pointed out it was like a finger roll starting the rotation on the pinky and Neil laughed at the piano reference I could have been making. Looking further around the map, I noticed more and more handprints throughout the park. That just makes me wonder again how anyone can’t think there’s something out there. It’s almost like a signature or proof to people who need to see something because it looks so much like a hand.

After I left the library last night, I stopped to get McDonalds (only my second fast food stop since being back in the US! Go me!!) and drove into the park. The nice thing about being an NPS employee is the free access to the park. I also found out that I get a discount for Verizon for being employed through NPS. Anyway, after getting my food and driving into the park, I began the drive up Trail Ridge Road. After about five miles, I pulled off to take some pictures of the sky. The nice thing about daylight savings time is that it stays light until 9pm or later, so despite the fact that it was around seven, the sky was bright blue and it was reflecting off the freshly snowed-on peaks. I turned around back on the road and began the drive down. When I was almost back, I noticed a dirt road that leads back a ways to some of our trailheads in a meadow. Driving back in, I couldn’t believe the numbers of elk just sitting back there out of the way of the noisy tourons (new conjunction…figure it out) since I was the only who seemed to have been back on that road for at least an hour.

Aside from the fantastic greens and elk on the ground and mountains, the higher elevation mountains were again that magical white and gray against the bright blue. As I sat in my car, foolishly taking pictures until my camera died and watching, a cloud appeared on top of the mountain. When I looked closer however, I realized it was actually snow being blown off the mountain so that it looked almost like a cloud from an explosion. It’s crazy that the mountains can just create their own weather and precipitation here. It’s crazy that the mountains decide which water for the entire country flows towards the Atlantic and which flows towards the Pacific. It’s crazy that the mountains are my home along with hundreds of other people and thousands of animals for an entire summer or more.

Driving a little further down the road, I was just letting my mind wander and take in the sights without actually thinking about anything. It’s easy to get lost doing that here. The next time I pulled over, there were two trees just to the side of my car that seemed to be joined together possibly in the roots. The juxtaposition they presented was amazing though. One tree was completely dead and the other had full needleage. The fact that both can be in the same area with the same conditions, yet one still dies baffles my mind. At the same time though, they are both still standing. I couldn’t tell if one was holding the other up or not, but the fact that whatever killed the outside of the first tree was still not enough to take the whole thing down. There is something inside of it that’s even stronger than lightning or bark beetles or elk grazing or whatever other tree threat. I think a lot of the time humans can be the same way. It’s strange how nature can so perfectly reflect human life in ways that are identifiable. Two people in the same conditions and upbringing, around the same age based on appearances, could be in the same situation. One could be thriving and the other not so much, but in the end nothing can really get either one down on the inside because their spirit or whatever you want to call it is untouchable.